I understand that the Keyman app and Keyman team have really tried, but I sometimes feel for those using older devices. Some of them could really help our work in the local language but their devices hinders them.
I’ve checked Download Archives but Android versions are not listed. Is there any way the Keyman team can make this older versions available so keyboard authors can prepare non-release versions of the keyboards for these older devices while the release versions remain for the latest devices?
Or, am I missing anything on how to deal with these older mobile devices?
Keyman 11 supports Android 4.1 and later versions. Are you talking older than that? (though older versions of Android were never very stable for multilingual work)
The majority of keyboards available on keyman.com still work on Keyman 10. Are there any specifically that are blocking you?
Two of those that collaborate with us on our local language project could not install Keyman app and keyboard. One uses Vivo funtouch 2.0 while the other uses Vivo Y29L, Android 7.1. Our collaboration is mainly online since we live in different communities. Sometimes, they have to type as in English and submit for correction since the keyboard doesn’t work on their devices.
I said:
so keyboard authors can prepare non-release versions of the keyboards for these older devices
because the current released version of the keyboard in this language is set to 14 (because of notany()). So devices running the older version of the apps may not be able to use the released keyboard.
Okay, Keyman 14 should work on Android 5.0 (Lollypop) and later, so if it isn’t, we need to check out why. (@darcy can you investigate?) We do try hard to maintain support for older devices, particularly on Windows and Android – older than Android 5.0 is very hard because Android Browser in those earlier devices was fragmented and unstable.